Will numbers work for new A’s ballpark at Coliseum site?

An ambitious plan to make over the current Coliseum site with new Oakland A’s and Oakland Raiders facilities is hitting some political turbulence over the financials.

Oakland officials are pushing a Coliseum City plan for the current site of the O.Co Coliseum and Oracle Arena; it calls for a new A’s ballpark, an Oakland Raiders football stadium and would expand over I-880 with new retail, housing and office space. A developer — Colony Capital LLC — is theoretically on board, although the A’s and the Raiders have not as of yet signed on to the plan.

And neither have Alameda County officials, who have been equal partners with the city on the current Coliseum arrangement — an arrangement, by the way, that still carries $200 million in debt after the last renovation of the Coliseum. County officials want to see that debt addressed as well as receive a share of the tax proceeds for the development, according to the San Francisco Chronicle:

Under the proposed deal, Oakland would receive about 10 percent of all the taxes generated by the project, which includes the Coliseum property and land across Interstate 880.

That’s an arrangement that county supervisors cannot accept.

“The county’s position is that the city can’t do it without the county — and if they … need county resources, then we also want a share in the upside from the project.”

Behind closed doors county officials are pushing for a more equitable revenue-sharing agreement. They say that if they incur half the debt — and risk — of any new project then they should receive a greater share — than 90 percent — of the benefits.

No, we don’t understand that math, either. But that’s not the issue: the issue is whether there is a financial formula to make this work. Understandably, Oakland A’s owner Lew Wolff probably wants to see how the San Jose ballpark proposal works out before he commits to anything in Oakland, and, remember, there’s still a proposal out there for an A’s waterfront ballpark in downtown Oakland. The Raiders, too, will need to commit somewhat to this concept before anyone can talk numbers. But if we’re talking about a $2-billion project and the two teams (plus the NFL) can come up with $800-$900 million, you have a decent start to the finances.

2019 Ballparks
New Amarillo (TX) ballpark
New Atlanta Braves Florida spring-training facility
New Fayetteville (NC) ballpark
New High Point (NC) ballpark
New University of Kentucky ballpark
New Waco (TX) ballpark

2020 Ballparks
New Kannapolis (NC) ballpark

2021 Ballparks
New Lafayette (IN) ballpark

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